"I think a meet like this creates belief in people. You can really see we are competitive and in some cases winning the close races. It is about these close races so that's good to see," Verhaeren said.

Australia won eight gold, 12 silver and seven bronze medals, for a total 27 medals across four days and finished second behind the USA who won 18 gold, 13 silver and 12 bronze.

They added two golds to their tally as Cate Campbell continued her dominance and the women’s 4x100m medley relay of Emily Seebohm, Jessica Hansen, Emma McKeon and Campbell, ensured Australia's women had a clean sweep of all three relays.

Campbell once again reeled in World Champion Simone Manuel in the final leg to clock a new Championship record of 3:52.74 to win five gold medals from five swims.

It was touch outside the current Australian record (3:52.58) set in 2009 set by Emily Seebohm, Sarah Katsoulis, Jessicah Schipper and Lisbeth Trickett.

Campbell's night begun with setting another Championship record in the 50m freestyle. She was only 0.14 short of the world record set by Sarah Sjostrom at the World Championships last year.

"I think that this team has performed way beyond expectations and we've really stuck it to people," Campbell said.

"It just goes to show the grit, determination and the spirit that is really alive in the team and it is wonderful to be a part of it again," she said.

Campbell almost gave away swimming after a disappointing Rio campaign where she finished sixth in the 100m freestyle and took 2017 off to re-discover her passion. She won five titles and has Championship records in all those races.

McKeon, who claimed bronze in the 50m freestyle a personal best time of 24.34, was once again the top medalist with four gold and two bronze.

World Champion and one of the youngest Dolphin team members Kaylee McKeown were outside of medal contentions in the women's 200m backstroke.

In the 1500m, Kiah Melverton took silver with world and Olympic champion Ledecky cruised to 1500m gold. Kareena Lee finished fourth but still has the 10km marathon open water event on Tuesday at Tateyama alongside Chelsea Gubecka.